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Comment by AnIdiotOnTheNet | Hacker News Reader

You think a race to the bottom of decency is a better idea? Really? How do you think that ends?

A race to the bottom of decency is exactly what is currently happening. One side continuing to "take the high road" will do absolutely NOTHING to stop it.

It is delusional to think that the Republicans will ever be shamed into cooperation. They don't care, their voters don't care, and high-minded speeches about the need for civility are the stuff of a comedy sketch if delivered while the listener is in the process of hacking you to pieces.

If you honestly believe that, then who cares who wins? You'll just get one of two different brands of corrupt, power hungry, greedy, totalitarian regimes. That may happen regardless, but I for one won't be cheering it on.

I'm honestly baffled by this. I care who wins because of the POLICY DIFFERENCE, i.e. the difference between what the two parties want to DO with their power. I can't even imagine what kind of worldview I would need to have to believe that the desirability of a political regime is a function of the level of courteousness of the politicians within it, so I'm struggling to understand where you're coming from with this claim.

So in other words you support totalitarianism, so long as the totalitarians agree with you.

Sorry, I can't take anyone seriously who doesn't see a problem with that philosophy.

This a complete non-sequitur.

Authoritarianism consists in undemocratic rule in which obedience is brutally enforced, and dissidence suppressed, using the security apparatus of the state.

Authoritarianism does not consist in using every avenue allowed within the rules of a democratic system in order to exercise power, even if it's "not nice".

Again, it's genuinely puzzling how you could conflate these two things.

"Decency" is all a show. Politics has always been about power.

People need to really internalize this. It's a game for power, and depending on the circumstances, will use any tool necessary to achieve those means. Our opinions here are worse than nothing, as it accomplishes nothing of value at the expense of projecting our (dare I say propagandized) bias onto millions of people while changing our behavior in very harmful ways to ourselves and others.

We all need to just detach, because what is DC really going to do for you? I don't know, but I would put serious money on it being negligible to the impact of your immediate family, friends and community.

Two years ago I'd have fully agreed with where you're coming from, but this latest dose of celebritized ignorance has caused the deaths of half a million Americans and wasted a year of all of our lives. There's a significant difference between our traditional self-interested domestic-looting foreign-malevolent power structure, and one that's actively self-destructive. The question has become more like what is DC going to do to you?

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